All that is gold does not glitter
by Mockingbird's Song
Summary: Secrets kept will be revealed and people will be forced to dig deep to find the truth. Warnings Non-con, torture, child abuse and major character death.
1. Late night visitor

**20 Mar ****0****5 ****2106 Zulu**

It had been a long day on top of an even longer week and Gibbs just wanted to go to bed well sleep he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep in his bed tonight or the next few nights at least. Still he was exhausted and the last thing he wanted was company so pulling up to find someone had turned his front porch light on meant he decided to teach whoever was in his house a lesson or two about proper times to visit that they would not forget any time soon. He drove past at a normal speed and parked well down the street so that his guest wouldn't hear his arrival then doubling back on foot to his house he pulled his Sig Sauer P228 as he stepped on to the porch and quickly but silently opening the front door speedily entering and beginning to clear the room but almost immediately re-holstering his Sig upon seeing the neat line of duffels and backpacks against the wall just inside the front door. He then sighed deeply stepped further into the house pulled the door shut behind him and pulled his cell phone and dialled the now familiar number and waited for it to be answered.

"Gibbs, Leroy Jethro for Lieutenant Colonel Williams."

"He'll know."

"Nick."

"Any injuries?"

"That would be right."

"Why are you telling me?"

"Okay. Right. Do they know?"

"And Vance?"

Hanging up Gibbs scowled at the phone as if it had caused him great personal affront. After a moment he headed into the basement.

"Hey" Gibbs called down to his guest who was standing next to the workbench staring into space as he came down the stairs when they showed no sign of hearing him. Thinking it would be a bad idea to startle them given their probable state of mind. He was glad he had when they span towards him pulling a Heckler and Koch USP Compact as they moved. Then with the Pistol aimed straight at Gibbs centre of mass they blinked twice as if coming out of a trance before quickly but without rushing lowered and re-holstered the sidearm. They then crossed the basement to meet Gibbs at the base of the stairs where he promptly pulled his guest into a firm hug holding them there until they began to relax slightly once he felt the change he moved them without loosening the hug into the back corner of the basement and sliding down to sit on the floor he held them until they started to shake and heave great silent sobs and tightened his hold further until they calmed and sagged spent into his embrace.


	2. A Suprise First Meeting

**20 Mar 05 2046 Zulu**

Dinozzo switched off his desk lamp and headed to his car they had just spent the last 60 hours looking for a missing kid. Thankfully the child had been found safe. A marine on base who had just returned from Afghanistan had suffered a mental break that meant he confused the seven year old with another kid that used to follow his patrol around like a lost puppy. At least until the Taliban had tortured the kid to death then left her body hanging from a building as a warning not to cooperate for the locals. The Marine's patrol had found the broken body. As if that wasn't bad enough the Marine had three daughters of his own.

Thinking the kid was in danger the Marine had tried to protect her. Sparking a massive hunt that spanned 10 states and meant that the Marine would be spending a long time in a secure mental facility at least no one had been hurt. The kid had actually thought that it was a really cool game of hide and seek at first. She had known the Marine for several years and that was what he had told her so she would cooperate. When she realised that there was something wrong with him she had called 911herself.

Reaching the garage Dinozzo realised that the Boss's Charger was still parked in its usual spot. He froze by the elevator doors watching the charger as if expecting it to suddenly attack him. He watched as the shadowy figure in the car moved (rubbing their face with their hands?) from what he could see it was probably Gibbs and really who else would it be. Before he could approach the car started and pulled away. Since he had been planning on going there anyway Tony headed to Gibbs house after he had got something to eat. When he pulled up he regretted it as the Charger wasn't in the drive and there were lights on in the house. Prepared for anything he pulled his Sig and cautiously approached the house only to be meet by Gibbs. He was acting strangely and that and the two sets of duffels and backpacks made him think that he had guests who he wasn't meant to meet. Once he got relegated to the basement he listened carefully in what was likely to be a vain attempt to hear Gibbs talking to his guests. It did however mean that he heard the slight sound which alerted him to the fact he wasn't alone in the basement.

He turned and froze instantly in the far corner of the basement with their legs pulled up to their chest and their head tilted to the side was a young female. She was wearing baggy green cargo pants and a heavily faded black short sleeve T-shirt. He guessed that she was approaching 6 foot tall and very solidly built from the set of their shoulders. However at the moment they looked as if they couldn't be more than 12 and in desperate need of a good sleep and decent food. Her cheeks were sunken and in the artificial light of the basement the shadows under their eyes looked black she was barely blinking her gaze unnerving in its complete blankness. Dinozzo was under no illusions about her danger however in actuality that was what he had first noticed she appeared to have gone from sleep to having a pistol trained on him before he could notice her but he was more concerned at her lack of any other sign of being aware of his presence she displayed no emotion and with the exception of clearing her throat to get his attention hadn't made a sound. He spent a moment studying the corded muscles of her forearms and the scars that overlayed them.

Apparently it was up to him to break the silence. _Ah well he could do that_.

"Hey do you know Gibbs too or did you just decide to take a nap in a strangers basement for the sake of it?" _Nothing_.

"I work at NCIS with Gibbs." _A quick flicker of something gone too quickly to identify._

"Very Special Agent Tony Dinozzo at your service."

The pistol went back in its holster, but clearly he wasn't in the clear since the holster stayed unfastened and her hand hovered near it ready to redraw if she deemed it necessary.

"You don't say much do you?"

"What's your name?"

"How do you know Gibbs?"

Deciding that he wasn't going to get an answer and his questioning seemed to be making the girl tenser he stood watching her silently until Gibbs came down to the basement.

"Tony, this is Captain Adara Kinley. Captain Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo is my Senior Field Agent."

Tony turned that over in his mind probably a Marine, far too young for a navy Captain, could also be Army. It hadn't been missed on him that his relationship was mentioned by Gibbs hers wasn't. Ah well he could look her SRB up tomorrow. But what about the other duffle and backpack? Before Tony could respond the Captain was up the stairs with a quick nod to each of them she almost but not quite ran up the stairs brushing past them on her way.

Gibbs raised one brow looking his way Dinozzo didn't know whether the look was for him over the Captain's abrupt departure. Shrugging inwardly he settled on his step knowing he would end up sleeping in the guest room that night. It had slowly filled with his things over the years. Gibbs had taken to calling it his room a while ago but he couldn't bring himself to.


	3. Eggs for Dinner

**Author's Note I don't own NCIS this applies for the previous chapters as well since I forgot. Warnings dark themes anything and everything torture, non-con, child abuse and major character death will all be recounted or occur by the end of the story.**

**20 Mar 05, 2345 Zulu  
**

Once his guest had recovered somewhat Gibbs encouraged them to their feet and brought them up into the kitchen talking softly the whole time sharing the latest antics of his team to help keep them focused on the here and now. Once in the kitchen he directed them to sit at the table announcing "I'm going to cook myself some scrambled eggs. I can make some for you as well if you want?"

No response not that Gibbs expected one. "I'm just going to make you some anyway then." Moving to the fridge he read the note stuck to the front of it.

Hey Gibbs

You do realise that the point of a fridge is to hold food, right? Look after Add and Karda for us.

See you around Larry

He put the note in the bin and pulled out the scrambled egg ingredients. Once he had started to whisk the eggs he turned so he was facing the guest at the table.

"Add, where is Karda?"

Add raised one arm made a karate chopping motion in the direction of the back door and raised one eyebrow with a well duh look clear on her face.

"Can you go fetch him?"

Add frowned and shook her head.

"He won't come in?"

Add nodded her frown deepening.

"If we took the food out to the porch do you think he would come and eat with us?"

Add tilted her head to the side considering his proposal before nodding slightly her frown also lessened slightly. Once the food was dished up they took it out onto the back porch. Gibbs was unsurprised that he couldn't see Karda but he appeared once the food had been set on the table.

Karda looked in many ways to be Add's mirror image his T-shirt was grey instead of black but the bone deep exhaustion, weight loss, blank gaze and tired Vietnam era Army surplus pants were identical, despite the fact they were normally polar opposites Karda was only about 5 foot 9 and built only slightly more solidly than a marathon runner.

Karda and Gibbs carried the conversation discussing inane topics such as Gibbs boat and what foods they should get from the shops. Once his guests were more settled Gibbs moved the conversation slowly onto his work first the latest antics of his team and then telling them about some of the cases he had worked. He had hoped that one of them would talk about their latest deployment but apparently not. He watched the two young warriors interact and was reminded of when they were 9 they were just as determined to smile despite tragedy then as now. Most people who met them now could be forgiven for thinking that they were sleeping together as they held entire conversations without speaking but he knew that they were more like twins than anything else. There bond was stronger than most blood relations due to their shared suffering.

Gibbs was just finishing the washing up when he heard the sound of a very familiar car and he quickly signed for Add to stand down when she responded to the noise by going for her sidearm. He knew that outside Karda probably had a similar response so he quickly headed to the front door to greet his latest visitor before Karda did. He walked a fine line between freaking his SFA out by being too nice and making Add and/or Karda feel that he wanted to see Dinozzo. He knew that he had achieved the second part when he got Dinozzo to the basement without seeing the others. As he headed up the stairs to change he contemplated how right it felt to have both sets of his kids in his house at the same time. He longed to introduce them properly but none of them were in even remotely the right mindset not to mention all the secrets that would be revealed if he did that most of them not his to tell.

Once he came back to the basement after getting changed he realised he had made a mistake. Add and Tony were locked in a staring contest that reminded him of old westerns Add's holster was unsnapped and her body language made it clear that she was ready to draw her weapon at a moment's notice while Tony had his hand near his pistol but his holster was still fastened and his body language was deliberately nonthreatening and Gibbs wondered if Tony was aware how close his hand is to his weapon.

"Tony, this is Captain Adara Kinley. Captain Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo is my Senior Field Agent."

Add stood and refastened her holster as she did so, then with a nod to both men bounded up the stairs. Gibbs raised one brow at Dinozzo silently challenging him to say something about his other late night guest but Dinozzo just settled on to his step. Later after an hour or so of watching him work Tony began to speak telling him how he hated that the kidnapper got a 48 hour head start because no one realised that the seven year old victim was missing until she didn't show for school on Monday morning. He then went on to tell him about several times when he had been forgotten growing up including a couple of times that Gibbs hadn't heard about before. Finally physically and emotionally spent he sagged against the banister Gibbs took that as his cue to act.

"Come on Dinozzo your room is waiting for you."

Once he had Dinozzo settled in his room he crossed the hall and found Add and Karda curled together on top of the covers wearing matching grey sweatpants and khaki T-shirts. Assured that his kids were settled for the night he headed downstairs to sleep on the couch instead of his too empty bed.


	4. Bad dreams and new friends

**A/N All Chapters will now start with a time and date. Still don't own it I am hoping it will be mine this Christmas.**

**0245 Zulu 21 Apr 05**

Karda watched as Adara's tormentor drew closer to her. She had drawn in on herself as best as she could given that she was hanging from her wrists which were hand cuffed to a metal pipe in the roof and the heavy chains binding her ankles together. When the tormentor drew close enough she surged forward using her whole body with the same suddenness that would later earn Adara her call sign. She had rammed her forehead into his face breaking his nose apparently she had managed to kill him because he crumpled instantly then took half a breath before ceasing all movement. He couldn't detect any new smells but that meant nothing since the room already reeked of shit, piss, blood, B.O., fear, brunt flesh and decay. Then he notice the stains on his pants the saying "good riddance to bad rubbish" crossed his mind and he began to giggle hysterically. A sharp pain near his elbow had him lashing out towards the source as he jerked awake. Ra shot him a cheeky half grin. Her black eye he must have given her looked like it would be truly spectacular by the time they reported to the pentagon. Together they striped the bed including the waterproof protector and balled it up to wash in the morning then they each changed into a clean set of track pants and a tee. Then Ra climbed out the window onto the roof leaving him to follow. They lay on the roof side by side barefoot and in short sleeve shirts ignoring the fact that it was only just above 0⁰C. Karda traced several of Ra's scars seeing in his mind's eye them being carved into her skin in retaliation for the man she head butted to death. Once the sun started to turn the sky the slightest hint of pink they climbed back through the window. He put the sheets in the wash while Ra started to cook a mountain of French toast. They were just finishing when Gunny came into the kitchen dressed for a day of working on the boat. They pointed him to the stack that they had been eating from; he grunted his thanks and dug in. After they had changed they wandered out the front to wait for their ride.

At the Pentagon the team started a poker game using sugar packets being used in lieu of chips. Doc was clearly wining by the time the Rangers they were to work with on this mission arrived. Larry grinned like a loon at them before informing them regretfully.

"We just started this hand but if you're willing to wait I can deal you in next hand."

Karda meet Ra's gaze as she switched the conversation to his native tongue.

"They're looking at us like we all have three heads each and we're in our normal people disguises and in uniform, these guys would be so much fun to mess with."

Karda grinned at that remembering how growing up he and Ra used to use their shared freakiness to mess with people including running a new cop out of town by convincing him the town was haunted.

By the time the Brass showed up Karda was sure they had the Rangers thinking that they were immature idiots. He wasn't worried because he knew Ra preferred to be completely underestimated, when she wanted the Rangers respect she would turn on her killing machine persona so quickly that the poor naive Rangers heads would spin. Halfway through the briefing Karda realised what the Colonel in charge of the Op was up to and caught his eye and nodded his thanks, making a mental note to tell Ra. The Colonel was deliberately overlooking the best way of carrying out the mission so that Ra could point it out to him, showing the Rangers that she deserved to lead the Op without having to scare the crap out of them. Karda was expecting to his mob to be underestimated their leader was younger than all the Rangers and female probably the first female Special Forces operative that these Rangers have encountered. Then there was the rest of the team none of them demonstrated military bearing or discipline not to mention that since Ra switched language none of them had spoken English. Larry made their team an equal mix of male and female and she spoke with an African accent lapsing into Swahili when she was pissed. Doc was a decade older than the rest of the team but seemed to take orders from all of them and seemed as if he couldn't harm a fly. Then there was Karda himself he was never still or quiet. Karda grinned as the freshly minted Captain Kinley got in the Colonel's face because the Rangers jaws dropped as one. He frowned when their SFC looked pissed after he was done being shocked, filing another mental note to watch him.


	5. A decision not made and bad memories

**I own nothing, nada, zip, zilch actually scratch that I own half a bottle of flat Coke**

**0557 12 May 05 Zulu**

Lt Col Nickolas Williams contemplated the report in front of him. Ghost Team 3 had been fishing off the Coast of Somalia posing as locals in an attempt to capture senior members of a highly organised piracy group operating in the area because intelligence suggested that their profits were being used to support Al Qaeda. It had now been two weeks and they had gained no intelligence relevant to the objective, meaning he now had to decide to continue the op tying up one of the foremost Special Forces Teams in the world for even longer or scrub it and lose the potential intelligence.

He was no closer to a decision when he received a phone call to tell him to come to the command centre at the double, the Rangers monitoring the pirate's base of operations reported major movement. He reached the command centre to hear that most of the men had cast-off together armed to the teeth. He gave permission to commandeer a satellite to track the boats movements, then ordering a Chook to brief the USS O'Kane the closest coalition ship and moved to the console that was tuned to Team 3's Coms briefing Kinley on the situation.

While they waited for the boats objective to become clear Kinley, Hall, Cahine and Accorsi detailed their plan for if they were the target. It was clear to Williams that they had discussed this plan heavily at some prior point, he had expected nothing less of them. Their plan was detailed and well thought out and gave them a good chance of achieving their original objective without excessive danger to them. Giving them the green light he had the O'Kane patched through to them to coordinate the details he listened with one ear as he watched the boats progress. It was becoming obvious that the Team was the target.

For once a mission went mostly to plan but Williams was still exhausted by the time he had given Team 3 their initial debrief via Sat phone but it was nothing compared to the level of exhaustion the team displayed standing in the Coms of the O'Kane.

As he walked back to his office Williams began to mentally reshuffle deployments to take Team 3 out of rotation at least until Kinley's arm healed. The entire Team desperately needed the downtime. They were a newly formed team but had been deployed nearly non-stop since then getting no more than 48 hrs leave before getting a new mission. They had so far performed brilliantly rarely failing to achieve an objective and not receiving any major injuries despite their relative lack of experienced members. Cahine had been part of the original Team 3 but was on medical leave for a severely broken leg when the rest of her team had died in a helicopter crash. Accorsi had been in the army for years but had just finished Ghost training. Hall and Kinley were Ghost Cadets that had just turned 18. The biggest problem with giving them leave seemed to be ensuring Kinley and Hall don't blow up to much while on leave not that he had any proof but it had been an open secret that when bored they blow things up since they were 14. Maybe Jethro would look after them?

As soon as he was in the privacy of his office Williams lent against the door and allowed the memories that he had been fighting since Kinley had unwittingly repeated the phrase she had first said to him almost 7 years ago with the same cheeky half grin which had threatened to break him for some time.


	6. A Desperate Prayer

**A/N Sorry all for the long break but I have been struggling with real life issues but things are now back on track I can't guarantee it won't happen again but I will always return to finish my work once started. New chapter should be up in a few days.**

1136 09 Jan 98 Local Time

Mitch Davey did his best to ignore Adara and Craig as they started to wrestle yet again. He was younger than them by two years but sometimes, like now he felt like he was the older one. It was probably due to the fact that he had been living with Martha since he was 4 months old but Adara and Craig had moved lots in the two years before moving to Martha's two months ago. Mostly they had run away because they were put with different carers they were good at running making it in the bush for a month or more each time before being put back in care. Martha was pretty laid back for a carer mostly letting the kids that came her way be themselves unless it hurt themselves or others; she had raised 9 kids of her own and something 16 foster kids so it seemed like she had seen it all. Officially Adara had her own room, Mitch and Craig shared a room and the last room was Martha's sewing room but Craig always slept in Adara's room and sometimes if he had a nightmare so would Mitch.

At the moment they were in a shady corner of the Cathedral they had been reading in an attempt to escape the heat and Mark's mob. Normally being Adara and Craig's mate meant Mitch didn't have to worry about bullies because those two sure could fight and were quick to defend their few friends; but just after Christmas Mark Peirce had shoplifted a pile of CD's from the music shop and Craig had seen and reported it. Mark had a record that meant he got time in Juvie for the shoplifting charge and now his mates were sworn on revenge. Which was a big problem since all Adara and Craig's other mates were away on holidays but Mark's mob were still in town, not to mention they are all 14. They had been jumped twice once some high schoolers had broken the fight up and the other time Adara and Craig had done their best to protect Mitch but all three of them had been left pretty sore. Martha's son James the one that had joined the army was going to take them camping next week but he wouldn't get in 'till late Sunday, so they still had to avoid Mark's mob for a little while longer.

Mitch had read a few more pages of his book and Adara had been starting to win the fight when a Priest came and chased them off the Cathedral grounds. The three kids headed home and filled up on sandwiches and fruit from the trees in the backyard before Craig suggested that they could sneak into the Port as a joke but Adara of course took it as a good idea. Which is how an hour later Mitch found himself wriggling under the fence around the Port at an isolated sandy spot. Adara was behind him and Craig was in front of him they were both crawling like soldiers they both were determined to join the army and had decided that this could be a training mission. Why this meant they needed to wear long dark clothing in the middle of summer was beyond Mitch but at least he wasn't bored anymore, even if was sweaty as and covered in sand. They crawled across the sand to a tall warehouse with some sort of external staircase at the back because its roof would give them a good view of the port. Mitch was glad he wasn't leading as they were staying in the valleys between the sand dunes and the constant direction changes had him completely lost but Craig had led them straight to the warehouse. They sat on the roof for about half an hour before Craig decided that they should go explore he said because he now knew that it was safe Mitch thought it was because he was bored but didn't mind either way as long as he got to stand up this time. Adara led this time they spent some time exploring in silence (some of the machinery was awesome) before Adara decided it was safe to speak.

Craig gave him a mischievous look before informing him with a grin. "Only some ships can carry sea containers and there are none in Port and Customs is shut today so nobody will come here. TAG your it."

With that Craig tapped his shoulder and took off. Mitch grinned and gave chase. Later Adara and Craig came charging towards Mitch confusing him because he was It but Adara's signal for him to be quiet and their terrified expressions froze him to the spot. As they reached him Craig lifted him onto his shoulder and kept running. They reached the edge of the section when Mitch realised he could hear yelling in some strange language from within the sea containers. Rounding the corner he saw the source 50 or 60 meters away two men had something in their hands pointed towards them as he heard the bangs his brain supplied the fact they were guns. Adara half fell half dived round the corner after him and Craig before taking off down an alley. She then led them on a frantic run pausing only once to swap him from Craig to Adara as even carrying him the older two were faster than he could be. Eventually they reached the water Craig carefully slid into the water before Adara passed him Mitch she dropped into the water as they heard the sound of the same language as before. Mitch closed his eyes and prayed silently "Please, please, please no, please, please I don't want to die."


End file.
